For the first time in program history, the Emory University men's soccer team secured a berth in the NCAA Division III Final Four as the Eagles defeated Dickinson College, 4-3, in penalty kicks Sunday evening at Shellenberger Field on the campus of the University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The Eagles will be headed to Salem, Virginia for the national semifinals and will be joined by St. Olaf, Tufts University and Trinity University (TX). Emory is set to meet the Tigers of Trinity in the next round on December 5th at Kerr Stadium on the campus of Roanoke College. Trinity advanced to the final weekend after defeating Augsburg, 5-0, on Sunday.
Emory improves to 16-1-4 with the result while Dickinson ends its campaign at 16-0-8. The Eagles collected their 10th shutout of the year and now stand at 2-2 in penalty kick results in the NCAA tournament under Head Coach
Cory Greiner.
Sunday's Elite Eight contest was unable to come to a conclusion through 110 minutes of play and had to be settled through a penalty shootout. Freshman
Josh Ali netted the Eagles' first conversion but the Eagles fell behind 2-1 at the end of two rounds. Senior
Owen Clark and junior
Prescott Bayman both made successful attempts in the third and fourth rounds and Emory had some help with the Red Devils missing twice. With the score level at 3-3, graduate student
Ignacio Cubeddu walked to the spot and delivered the winning strike to send the Eagles onto Salem.
Emory opened the game solid defensively as the Eagles did not allow a single Dickinson shot in the first half while Cubeddu had two of EU's three attempts in the period.
The second half saw momentum swing towards the Red Devils with play primarily staying in their offensive end. Dickinson totaled eight attempts in the final half of regulation and had several strong opportunities on frame. With 20 minutes remaining, a free kick swung in by DC's Timi Omoniwa bounced around the box ultimately coming back to him for a shot from 12 yards straight out which went right into the hands of junior
Geoffrey Halpern. The Red Devils had several more chances towards the end of regulation including another chance on target in the 79th minute but were turned away by Halpern. Senior
Adeyemi Oni had the game's final shot in the second half but was unable to find the back of the net.
In overtime, the Eagles held control for the opening seven-plus minutes as they recorded six throw-ins, a corner and a free kick but could not translate to shot attempts. In the second overtime frame, Dickinson threatened multiple times, starting with close range shot being stoned by Halpern. The Red Devils drilled the right post from 30-yards away on their next opportunity and saw two more chances blocked by the Emory defense. DC added one more chance with two minutes to play, but Halpern once again had the answer to push the game to penalties where the Eagles prevailed.
Additional information regarding the championships including game times will be made available in the coming days. Stay tuned to emoryathletics.com for more updates.
